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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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^ cA K E P O tl T 

' -^^ ^' OF THE 

COMMISSIONERS 



WESTERN BOUNDARY LINE 



BETWEEN 



CONNECTICUT AND NEW YORK, 



TO THE 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 

MAY SESSION, 1857. 



|)riut«^ 1)2 irkt 0f tk f tgislatuu. 



HARTFORD. 
HAWLEY <fe FAXON, STATE PRINTERS. 

1857. 






C^ 



REPORT 



To the Honorable General Assembly of the State of Con- 
necticut, now in session at Hartford, the undersigned have 
the honor to report : 

That by a resolve of your Honorable Body, passed at the 
May Session, holden at Hartford, A. D. 1855, we were ap- 
pointed, and subsequently duly commissioned by His Excel- 
lency the Governor of this State, Commissioners, to meet 
such Commissioners as might be appointed on the part of 
the State of New York, and with them, to ascertain the bound- 
ary line between this State and the State of New York, and 
erect suitable monuments at such places as might be deemed 
necessary to prevent any future mistake regarding the same. 

That in April, A. D. 1856, the Legislature of the State of 
New York, by a concurrent resolution, authorized the 
Governor of that State to appoint three Commissioners, to be 
by him duly commissioned, to meet the undersigned for the 
purposes aforesaid, and soon thereafter. His Excellency the 
Governor of the State of New York, forwarded to each of the 
undersigned a copy of said concurrent resolution, accompa- 
nied with a notice, of which the following is a copy : 

" STATE OF NEW YORK. 

" Executive Department, ^ 
" Albany, April 9th, 1856. \ 

" In pursuance of the foregoing Concurrent Resolution, I 
hereby appoint Hon. Ben Field, of Orleans County, Hon. 
Samuel D. Backus, of King's County, and Col. Jonathan 



Tarbell, of Essex County, to be Commissioners on the part 
of this State, to act with the Commissioners appointed by 
the State of Connecticut, to ascertain and settle the bound- 
ary line between the respective States, as specified in said 
Resolution. 

MYRON H. CLARK." 

That preparatory to a proper understanding of the duties 
of our Commission, we examined many ancient documents 
relating to the western boundary of this State, but we deem 
it unnecessary in this Report, to give the details of th^ many 
controversies regarding this line in the early settlement of 
our country, or to discuss the justice of the policy heretofore 
pursued by this State regarding that boundary. It is suffi- 
cient for a right comprehension of our powers, and the man- 
ner in which we have endeavored to faithfuUy discharge the 
duties of our Commission, to allude only to an agreement, 
made and concluded at Greenwich, in the Colony of Con- 
necticut, on the 29th day of April, 1725, by a Joint Commis- 
sion on the part of the Province of New York and the said 
Colony, and the manner in which that agreement wass ubse- 
quently executed, and carried into effect. 

That agreement appears at length in the appendix of the 
printed Resolves and Private Laws, published by authority 
of the General Assembly of this State, in May, A. D. 1835, 
as well as upon the Colonial Records, and appears to have 
been predicated upon a previous agreement and partial sur- 
vey made in the year 1684. From those documents, and 
from the Reports of the Commissioners who run the bound- 
ary line under those agreements, which are also at length on 
the pages of said appendix, we collate the following facts : 

By the agreement of 1684, the general course of Byram 
River, from " Lyon's Point," where said river empties into 
Long Island Sound, to a large stone at the country road, or 
" wading place," in said river, thence on a straight line north, 
north-west six miles and a half, to " three oak trees," was 
established as the partition line between the said Province 
and Colony thus far, and then the partition line was to run 
parallel with the sound a straight course " East North-East" 



until the east end of said east north-east line should be twenty- 
miles from the Hudson's River, and from that point to run 
parallel with the said Hudson's River to the southern line of 
Massachusetts. 

By the agreement of April 9th, 1725, stipulations were 
entered into for determining the line as set forth in the 
agreement of 1684, and then it was further agreed, that 
having satisfactorily determined that line, there should be 
added to the province of New York sixty-one thousand four 
hundred and forty acres of land out of the Colony of Con- 
necticut, by a parallel line, with the said line running paral- 
lel with the Hudson River, commencing at the end of said 
east north-east line twenty miles from said river, and running 
to Massachusetts boundary. 

Pursuant to this last agreement, and immediately there- 
after, the Commissioners and surveyors of the Province of 
New York and Colony of Connecticut, surveyed from Lyon's 
Point to said " Great Stone," and from thence to the " three 
trees," for the purpose of determining the allowance to be 
made in measuring the width of said additional land, agree- 
able to said agreement, and they found and determined there 
should be allowed an additional measure, at the rate of 
twenty -five rods to one mile, so that in measuring said 
width, one mile and twenty-five rods of actual measure on 
the surface of the earth should be accounted and esteemed 
one mile and no more, and so in proportion for a longer or 
shorter length. These Commissioners found no difficulty in 
satisfying themselves as to the identical " three Oak Trees " 
marked by the Commissioners in 1684, and the better to per- 
petuate the place, they say, in their Report, " At the place 
where the three white oak trees stand we buried some burnt 
wood in the ground and raised a heap of stones over it; we 
likewise cut the letters G. R. on a great stone lying in the 
ground there." They then ascertained the distance of that 
point from the Hudson River, and run a straight line east 
north-east thirteen miles and sixty-four rods, — the distance 
they found necessary to make up the whole distance of 
twenty miles from the Hudson River, and raised a heap of 



6 

stones there, and they determined and declared, that the 
straight line from said " great stone at the wading place," 
to the said " great stone " marked G. R., and from thence 
a straight line to said heap of stones at the end of the said 
east north-east line of thirteen miles and sixty-four rods is, 
and shall be, esteemed and fixed as the line of partition, so 
far between the P rovince of New York and Colony of Con- 
necticut. They also declare that the said " heap of stones" 
shall be esteemed twenty miles from Hudson's River, accord- 
ing to the survey made in 1684, and the place from whence 
the additional land of sixty-one thousand four hundred and 
forty acres to be taken out of Connecticut shall commence. 
And the said east north-east line to be continued so far as 
to make up that number of acres, with the allowance of 
measure before mentioned. 

At this point, the commissioners, at that time, closed their 
work. 

In May, 1731, another Board of Commissioners and survey- 
ors assembled to complete the survey, agreeable to the agree- 
ment of April 29th, 1725, left unfinished by the Commission- 
ers in May, 1725. They run out from Hudson's River, at 
Courtland's Point, at a right angle with the river, the dis- 
tance of twenty miles, and then they connected that point 
with the " heap of stones," at the end of said east north-east 
line, placed by the Commissioners, in the year 1725, by a 
straight line, and found its course to be north twenty-four 
and a half degrees west, and distance, (corrected measure,) 
"six miles, three quarters of a mile, and seventy-six rods." 
They then fixed a point in the Massachusetts line, twenty 
miles from the Hudson River, and run a straight line to said 
point, twenty miles from Courtland's Point, and found the 
course north, twelve and a half east, " nearly," and distance 
"fifty miles, three quarters of a mile, ten rods and fifteen 
links," corrected measure. They then set off a line parallel 
with these two lines, at a distance of one mile, three quarters 
of a mile, and twenty-one rods, strict measure, (but being 
only 432 rodsj with the allowance of measure as aforesaid,) 
to embrace the 61,440 acres of land to be added to the Prov- 



ince of New York, out of the Colony of Connecticut, and 
such a parallel line will embrace said quantity of land, and 
no more. 

The north-east bound, at the Massachusetts line, the bound 
opposite to Courtland's Point, and the bound at the south- 
east angle of said additional land, are all well described in 
the report of the Commissioners of May the 14th, 1731, and 
they declare by said report that the said lines running north 
twenty-four and a half degrees west, and north twelve and a 
half degrees east, "nearly," are to be considered and esteem- 
ed as parallel to Hudson's River, and as twenty miles dis- 
tance from the same. And that the east lines of said addi- 
tional lands are parallel with the said lines running parallel 
with Hudson's river, and " to be and remain henceforth the 
lines of partition between the Province of New York and 
Colony of Connecticut, forever," and the report adds, "which 
lines, together with those that were fixed and established in 
the year 1725, do every where completely and entirely sepa- 
rate and divide the said Province from the said Colony, from 
the sound so far as the line of the Massachusetts Bay." 

In accordance with previous arrangements, on the 3d day 
of June, 1856, the undersigned met the gentlemen named by 
his Excellency Governor Clark, as Commissioners, on the 
part of the State of New York, at Portchester, in the county 
of Westchester, for preliminary consultation, which resulted 
in the understanding that they would select their own sur- 
veyor, and that Mr. Holly, one of the undersigned, being 
himself a practical surveyor, would superintend the work, on" 
the part of Connecticut, and the 23d day of the same month 
was fixed upon as the day to commence the survey. 

•On the 23d day of June last, we returned to Portchester, 
taking with us Andrew Perry, Esq., of Stamford, as an 
assistant, and on the 24th, the three commissioners on the 
part of the State of New York, met us, accompanied by a 
Mr. Wentz, as a surveyor, with two assistant surveyors, and 
two or three other assistants, of their own selection, from 
various parts of the State of New York. 

On consultation and examination of facts, we had no hes- 



8 

itancy in at once establishing the center of the general course 
of Byram river, from its mouth at " Lyon's Point," to the 
bridge at the country road, as the true jurisdictional line be- 
tween our respective States, and subsequently made an ac- 
curate survey of said river, fixing witness bounds on each 
shore thereof, to designate the said central lines, and their 
angles, so that in future no misunderstanding in regard to the 
same can well be made. And we had as little difficulty in 
determining that a large rock on the north side, and near the 
eastern terminus of said bridge, was the "great stone," "at 
the wading place," described by the Commissioners in 1725. 
We then proceeded to the present north-west corner of the 
town of Greenwich^ in this State, where we found a stone 
lying in the ground, on the west side of a public highway, 
nearly opposite the residence of a Mr. Langdon, and on a 
careful examination of this stone we discovered the letters 
" G. R." upon one of its sides, bearing unmistakable appear- 
ances of having been chiseled some great length of time 
past. On removing the earth from about this stone, we also 
found the semblance of charcoal or " burnt wood." These 
two facts, taken with traditional evidence elicited, the Com- 
missioners were fully satisfied, that this stone was the one 
marked by the Commissioners in 1725. We therefore run a 
straight line from the said large rock, at Byram bridge, to 
said stone, and found the course by magnetic needle, (apply- 
ing the proper equation for the variation,) and the distance 
to agree very accurately with the survey of 1725. But from 
the lapse of time, the clearing up of the country, and the 
opening of highways, the intermediate bounds mentioned in 
the report of the Commissioners of May 12, 1725, have be- 
come entirely obliterated, and traditionary evidence in regard 
to their former locality, vague and uncertain. Hence, not- 
withstanding this straight line ran generally to the eastward 
of the line, as it has been of late years regarded by the resi- 
dents along the line, in many places forming the western 
boundary of Greenwich Farms, and changing some residents 
from the jurisdiction of Connecticut to that oT New York, 
the undersigned submitted to the claims of the Commission- 



ers on the part of that State, that we could rely only upon 
the angle bounds, when well defined by record, and establish 
a straight jurisdictional line between them, it being mutually 
understood and agreed, that such a straight jurisdictional 
line, from angle bound to angle bound, should in no wise 
affect or vary the title to lands on or near said line, but the 
same to be holden and remain as if the said line by us estab- 
lished had not been run, and that we should make provision 
for this in a joint report to our respective Legislatures. 

This principle of a straight jurisdictional line having thus 
been settled, and as we supposed would be carried out in 
good faith, throughout the whole survey, on the part of the 
Commissioners for the State of New York, we committed 
the entire control of running the line, to their surveyors, 
especially as the acting Commissioner assured us in writing, 
over his signature, that on the part of New York, they only 
desired «a perfect survey," that "no territory was in dispute," 
that " Mr. Wentz (we quote his own words,) was the first 
engineer in the State," and "we hired him expressly to run a 
line that no future surveyor could ever break down." In ac- 
cordance with this understanding, after the true line was as- 
certained by a transit instrument, the surveyors went over 
the line again, and fixed points for erecting monuments 
along the line, thus far, at every crossing of a highway, and 
subsequently, one of the Commissioners on the part of New 
York, ordered monuments of gray granite stone, five feet in 
length, one foot in width, and six inches thick, with^the let- 
ters " N. Y." handsomely cut on one side, and " Ct." on the 
reverse, from the quarries of New Milford ; had them dis- 
tributed along the line, and one has been erected at each 
point thus marked by their surveyor, eight in number, by be- 
ing set three feet and a half in the ground, in the most sub- 
stantial manner. 

From the angle at the rock marked "G. R." on the course 
indicated in the report of the Commissioners of 172o, (varia- 
tions of the needle considered) and at the distance of thirteen 
miles and sixty-four rods, nearly reaches the present regarded 
south-west corner of the town of Lewisboro', in the county 
2 



10 

of Westchester, where are found a heap of stones on the 
south side of a highway, near an old stump, by the fence, 
and which seemed to be indicated by the make of the land, 
and distance as described in said report, and confirmed by tra- 
ditionary evidence, as the bound established by the Commis- 
sioners of 1725, as where the line was to be extended from, 
to embrace the additional lands, and as being twenty miles 
from Hudson's River. No intermediate bound, as described 
in the report of 1725, were recognizable along this line, but 
it ran through a traditionary bound on the north line of 
Greenwich, and also through the received and acknowledged 
north-west corner bound of the town of Stamford, and a tra- 
ditionary bound near the north-west corner of the town of 
New Canaan, and in all other places, ran with or very near tra- 
ditionary lines. On this line also, monuments ordered by the 
New York Commissioners, (of the same character as those 
already described) have been erected at every crossing of a 
highway and other prominent points along the line — sixteen 
in number. 

On extending this last mentioned line, the distance requir- 
ed to embrace the additional lands, one mile, three-quarters 
of a mile, and twenty-one rods, strict measure, as per said 
agreement of 1725, the eastern end fell about ten rods north 
of an ancient bound in a piece of woods on the west side of 
a stony ridge near the west base of Bald Hill, two hundred 
and sixty-three rods from the west branch of the Norwalk 
river, as described in the report of the Commissioners of 
May 14, 1731. This bound being well defined by that report, 
and permanently established, together with traditionary evi- 
dence and its antiquated appearance, the present Commis- 
sioners had no difficulty in deciding upon this as the true 
bound. The cause of this bound not having been erected in 
a true line with the line westerly of the bound at the end of 
the twenty miles from the Hudson river, may be accounted 
for upon the supposition that the surveyors in 1731, in ex- 
tending that line, made no allowance in running the course, 
for the difference of the variations of the magnetic needle 
between the years 1725 and 1731 ; but from all the circum- 



11 

stances, the present commissioners did not feel warranted in 
disturbing this ancient land-mark, although it stands some 
ten rods south of the line contemplated in the agreement of 
1725, and cutting a slice out of the territory of Connecticut, 
and we agreed to that as the true bound, and the jurisdic- 
tional line, to be a straight line from it to the said bound at 
the south-west corner of Lewisboro', before mentioned. 

The next angle to establish was the one described in the 
report of 1731, opposite to Courtland's Point, at the south- 
eastern extremity of Long Pond. Only one of the Commis- 
sioners on the part of New York had been present for many 
days, and as there was some discrepancy in traditionary 
evidence, we complained to the Commissioner present that 
we were deprived of the counsel of his associates. But he 
frankly declared that his associates not being practical men, 
it was of little or no consequence whether they were present 
or not, and as they had committed the running of the line to 
Mr. Wentz, they would be governed and bound by his decis- 
ions and acts, so far as bounds and the survey of the line was 
concerned. We then submitted to their claim, and the line 
was accordingly run, and points fixed at the crossing of every 
public road, as on the other lines, the course and distance 
not varying materially from the survey of 1731. 

From the angle bound at Long Pond, as before mention- 
ed, the surveyors run a straight line to a monument, at the 
southern boundary line of Massachusetts, in the Tahconic 
mountains — a monument unmistakably described in the 
report of the commissioners of 1731, as the one they estab- 
lished as the north-east corner of said additional lands — the 
distance and course again very accurately agreeing with the 
survey of that year. 

In running this last said line, a distance of over fifty miles, 
the attention of the Commissioners or surveyors was not 
called to any intermediate bounds whatever. And on be- 
coming satisfied as to the indentity of the said monument 
in the Tahconic mountain, the Commissioners on the part of 
New York suggested that a marble monument should be 
erected at that point, commemorative of this survey, and a 



12 

few days afterwards, Mr. Backus wrote to Mr. Whiting, 
giving directions as to the inscriptions he desired to be 
engraven upon said monument. 

The surveyors run over this line the second time, and 
under the special directions of Mr. Wentz, (the Commission- 
ers on the part of New York having left the line after deciding 
in regard to the monument in said Tahconic mountains,) 
fixed points for monuments along the line, wherever it crossed 
public highways, and on all the intermediate points of high 
land, where it was deemed necessary to make the line so dis- 
tinct that in future there could be no misapprehension in 
regard to it by any one. This was completed on the first 
day of November last, and the surveying party disbanded. 

The undersigned congratulated each other at the final con- 
summation of the survey, which had been, in their judgment, 
greatly retarded, and subjected to much unnecessary ex- 
pense, by circumstances altogether beyond their control, and 
entertained no thought but that the Commissioners on the 
part of New York were perfectly satisfied that a true juris- 
dictional line had been completed, and that all that remained 
to be done, was to set the monuments, where they had not 
already been erected, and unite in a report of our doings to 
our respective Legislatures. 

That the Commissioners on the part of New York so con- 
sidered the line as settled, at the close of the survey, we 
were justified in believing, not only from the honorable posi- 
tion they had been placed in by the Executive of that State, 
which demanded our confidence in them as gentlemen, who 
would not depart from agreements because such agreements 
. had not been submitted to writing, but also from their sub- 
sequent acts. On the 28th day of October, one of them 
wrote Mr. Whiting regarding the monument to be set in the 
Tahconic mountains ; they arranged on the day they left the 
line, with Mr. Perry, our assistant surveyor, to superintend 
the setting of the remainder of the monuments, which they 
had already ordered to be made and delivered at New Mil- 
ford railroad depot, similar in style to those herein before 
described ; they proclaimed along the line, that the line as run 



13 

by Mr. Wentz, was the true jurisdictional line ; and on the 
3d day of November, three days after the surveying corps 
had been discharged, Mr. Backus wrote to Mr, Whiting, 
requesting him to meet the Commissioners at Stamford on 
the following Thursday, in which he says : " We name that 
time and place as most convenient for us all, and it is im- 
portant that whatever business we may have to do before 
setting the monuments, should be done at once, in order that 
frost may not interfere with the work. Mr. Perry had also 
better be present." 

With the exception of Mr. Field, the Commissioners met 
at Stamford in accordance, with that request. But it was a 
very brief meeting. They made a demand upon the under- 
signed, having no bearing whatever upon the jurisdictional 
line, which we declined to entertain until the work was 
finished. We decidedly informed the gentlemen that we 
were perfectly satisfied with the line as they and their sur- 
veyors had established it, and that as soon as the remainder 
of the monuments were set, we should be happy to meet 
them at any convenient place and close up other matters as 
amicably as we had agreed in running the line. They then 
demurred to proceeding any further, until we complied with 
their demand, which we considered a very unreasonable one 
and entirely contrary to our original understanding, and they 
left, without any decision as to who should finish up the 
work. We proposed for them to go on and set the monu- 
ments, or if they would so consent, we would take the bur- 
den. But no, they must have their own way, as they had 
done from the commencement of the work, or no way at all 
and thus we separated. 

Before leaving the place, they notified Mr. Perry that his 
services were not wanted in setting the monuments, and on 
the 15th of November, Col. Tarbell placed in our hands indi- 
vidually, without a word of explanation, a notice of the fol- 
lowing tenor, subscribed " Samuel D. Backus,"." J. Tarbell," 
" Commissioners on the part of the State of New York." 



14 

" Gentlemen : 

" All communications and propositions, oral or written, 
from us or either of us, to you for the settlement of said line? 
are respectfully withdrawn ; we take this step in good faith, 
and as necessary and proper under all the circumstances. 
Permit us to add that we shall take pleasure in a prompt re- 
opening of negotiations, and will make full, and we have no 
doubt satisfactory explanations for this step.'' 

Language can not adequately express the surprise of the 
undersigned on perusing this brief document, neither could 
they well comprehend its meaning. Mr. Holly was at the 
very time engaged in preparing a topographical sketch of the 
whole line, to accompany our report, the outlines of which 
have been finished, but he did not feel justified in incurring 
the expense of a transfer to a proper shape for preservation? 
if the whole work of the expensive survey that had been 
made, was thus to be crushed out by the gentlemen on the 
part of New York, and rendered nothing worth. These gen- 
tlemen have not subsequently made us any explanation for 
thus recalling all their agreements, neither have they ever 
named a time or place requesting us to meet them to " re-open 
negotiations," although they have solicited us to name a time 
and place for an interview. In reply to their solicitations we 
notified them that we were not aware of any disagreement 
or uncertainty in regard ^to the line as it was run — that we 
most cheerfully assented to the line as they had marked it 
out, that Mr. Holly had reviewed every point, and was satis- 
fied the work was correctly accomplished, and that as soon 
as they would unite with us in erecting the remainder of the 
monuments, we should be happy to meet them at the place 
of their own selection to close up the business of our joint 
Commissions. But nothing further has been jointly ac- 
complished. 

The undersigned have been thus particular in regard to 
matters that, perhaps, might otherwise have been omitted in 
this report, but from the fact that we have noticed in the 
public prints, that on the afternoon of the 13th day of April, 
1857, only four days before the close of the session, the 



15 

Boundary question was reported upon by a select committee 
of the Legislature of New York, accompanied with the fol- 
lowing resolutions : — 

" Resolved, That the Commissioners on the part of New 
" York, while they have maintained the rights of this State, 
" by declining to yield any of its territories, or to adopt any 
" other than the legal and recognized boundary through the 
" ancient land-marks, have not been lacking in liberality 
" towards the Commissioners on the part of Connecticut, nor 
'' in a popular effort for ajust and speedy determination of the 
" matters of difference between them, nor are they to be held 
" responsible for the failure of a settlement hitherto." 

" Resolved, That relying upon the Legislature of Connect- 
" icut to correct the errors of its Commissioners, we deem no 
"legislation necessary on the part of this State, in relation 
" to this subject at the present time." 

From the tenor of these resolutions, the undersigned are 
constrained to believe the Legislature of New York has been 
misled in relation to facts by an exparte report, at a period 
of the session too late to entertain any counter statement, 
and we can not but hope and believe, that, should your hon- 
orable body devise some proper means to bring this subject 
under the review of our sister State, justice and truth in re- 
lation to this subject will yet be honored, and that ultimately 
the line, as run by the intelligent and efficient engineer on 
the part of the State of New York, will be established as the 
true jurisdictional line between the two States. 

All which is -respectfully submitted, 

WM. H. HOLLY, | ^ 

JASON WHITING, \ Commissioners. 

Hartford, May 19th, 1857. 



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